We Cold Brew Coffee is Canberra's new coffee brewer

Natasha Rudra

There's a new little cold brew company on the block. If you've been at the Old Bus Depot Markets recently you might have seen Fiona Chong and her collection of dark brown glass bottles, filled with cold brewed coffee.

Under the name We Cold Brew Coffee, she sells small ranges of a variety of coffees, from a Costa Rican bean with plenty of honey and caramel tones to a crisply nutty coffee brewed with flakes of toasted coconut. Her original line is called Daft Cow, because she recommends blending it with almond milk if you're not going to drink it straight.

She's a recent convert to cold brew with its cleaner, fresher flavour.

The Daft Cow line Photo: Supplied

"My whole family used to love coffee, my father worked for the Nescafe company. I've always wanted to do something different and when I was in New York a couple of years ago, it was summer and I wanted an iced coffee. And someone suggested why don't you try cold brew coffee," she says.

A graphic designer by trade, Chong has travelled the world. But when she was done with globe trotting she returned to Canberra and decided the next chapter of her life was going to be cold brew.

We Cold Brew Coffee is a one woman operation. Chong makes each batch by hand at her home in Kaleen, grinding the coffee beans, steeping them in jars overnight to extract the flavour, and then bottling the resulting coffee. She takes each batch to the markets and also does private orders.

"Once you explain to them and let them try it and walk away, they'll come back," she says."Every weekend if I've got time I'll be experimenting with different beans."

She says there's no reason not to heat up the coffee (gently) for a warming brew in winter. Or you can just have it cold. "I have it with almond milk with a bit of ice, or you could have it with a bit of vodka at night," she says with a laugh.